Mr. Brooks

MGM
William Hurt and Kevin Costner in “Mr. Brooks.”

Costner a creep in ‘Mr. Brooks’
Oh is Kevin Costner creepy in the delicious melodrama “Mr. Brooks.”
Like Joseph Cotton in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt,” Costner plays a beloved guy who has a horrible, dark secret.
Costner’s “Mr. Brooks” is Portland’s man of the year. We know early on — by the music and Costner’s look — he isn’t quite right.
You see, Mr. Brooks has an imaginary friend, Marshall, played by William Hurt.
Marshall wants to have fun after the man-of-the-year ceremony. What that means is watching a couple working out at a dance studio.
Costner’s character and the imaginary Marshall follow the couple to their apartment where the couple is deep in the throes of passion, with the drapes wide open no less.
Mr. Brooks is a pro. He pulls out his gun, wrapped in plastic bags, and KA-BOOM.
Mr. Brooks might be a community hero and a rich businessman, but he is also addicted to killing.
To his credit, he tries to do something about it. Since there’s no Serial Killers Anonymous groups, he goes to Alcoholics Anonymous and says, “My name is Brooks and I’m an addict.”
Mr. Brooks’ previous thrill killings went off without a hitch. He vowed no matter what Marshall suggests, he wouldn’t do any more killing.
But this time a photographer across the roadway takes a picture of Mr. Brooks standing in front of the window with the dead bodies in the back.
But the photographer, played by Dane Cook, doesn’t want money. He has no plans to go to the police. He was so thrilled by the murders, he wants to go with Mr. Brooks for the next killing.
Add to the mix is Demi Moore as Detective Tracy Atwook. Tracy is a millionaire, thanks to a rich daddy, but she wanted to make her own way. So she became a police detective.
She has her own problems, besides a serial killer.
She has a younger husband who was less than true to his rich wife. Now they are getting a divorce, but he wants a sizable settlement.
Demi isn’t happy. Besides crummy hubby and the other serial killer, yet another killer has escaped from prison and vows revenge. Wow! When it rains it pours.
The other subplot is about the Costner character’s daughter, played by Danielle Panabaker. She drops out of college in her freshman year, but doesn’t want to tell parents why.
One of the reasons is pretty surprising. You’ll have to see the movie to find out.
There are enough characters, plots and subplots to keep you riveted.
Costner is great as the villain. It’s gory, it’s scary, it’s sometimes funny, it’s skewed.
But when the dust settles, it works. There’s so much going on, if one storyline bores, there’s another you will probably like.
The film isn’t for the faint of heart. Nobody will mistake it for “Mary Poppins.”
But if you are Hitchcockian in your love of movies, this one is for you.
Read more Viper columns at videoviper.blogspot.com.
MR. BROOKS
• Rated R for bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity
• Runtime: 120 minutes
• 3 stars out of 4
This appeared in the WEEKENDER on March 21, 2008.

American Gangster

Universal Pictures
RUBY DEE plays Denzel Washington's mother, telling him a thing or two, in "American Gangster."

Denzel gentleman gangster in film
Denzel Washington seems like such a nice guy.
He also plays the good guy in so many films.
That’s why it’s difficult to adjust to Washington playing the really bad guy in “American Gangster.”
Denzel is Frank Lucas, former aide to kingpin Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III.) Bumpy dies of a heart attack in the late 1960s, practically in Frank’s arms, so Frank decides to take his place.
The film is based on a true story.
Frank’s not happy to see all of the gangsters slurping up the booze at Bumpy’s funeral while still owing money.
Frank vows to see the debt is paid.
The movie is long and starts a little slow, but builds as we follow the Washington character and Russell Crowe as hardworking Detective Richie Roberts, who by day is going to law school.
Crowe’s character is so honest when he comes across $1 million in unmarked bills, he turns it in. He becomes a legend because he didn’t keep the money.
This film has a slew of dishonest cops.
But the characters in this story aren’t good or evil. Like real people, they have their flaws.
The Washington character plays the perfect gentleman. He loves his mother and buys her a house. He treats his future wife like a queen.
Unfortunately, he sees nothing wrong with sticking a gun to a rival’s head and pulling the trigger, even if in front of a whole bunch of witnesses.
His drugs also cause many deaths. We see a baby sitting on the bed beside the corpse of his mother.
Could Denzel be this bad?
Crowe is the honest cop who forms a special team to fight the drug team, sort of like a modern-day Untouchables.
But he regularly cheats on his wife and fails to pay sufficient attention to his son.
Put them together and you get a really bad, or really good guy.
Of course, Washington’s gentlemen-y facade starts to vanish when Crowe’s character starts pressuring him.
A good family man as well, Frank Lucas gets all of his brothers involved in his illegal trade.
Ruby Dee plays Mama Lucas, so excited when she sees the house son Frank buys for her with his drug money. She is thrilled to find he had recreated her beautiful bedroom set, the one she apparently lost when Frank was just a lad.
But make no mistake, Mama Lucas isn’t stupid. She keeps her mouth shut about where the money comes from, until she finds it necessary to give her son some advice.
There are no cliché characters in this film and you won’t find it easy to guess what happens next.
You just need to give the story a little time to get started.
It isn’t as good as “Good Fellas” or “The Godfather,” but what is?
In its own right, “American Gangster” works just fine.
Now Denzel, you straighten up.
AMERICAN GANGSTER
• Rated R for violence, pervasive drug content, language, nudity and sexuality
• Runtime: 157 minutes, 176 minutes in unrated version
• Released by Universal Pictures, directed by Ridley Scott
• 3 stars out of 4
This appeared in Weekender March 14, 2008 in the Ashtabula Star Beacon.

The Hoax

Miramax Films

Alfred Molina and Richard Gere in “The Hoax.”

‘Hoax’ looks at Clifford Irving swindle

“The Hoax” takes place in 1971.
I suspect with all of the makeup and hair dye, lead Richard Gere looks in this film about the way he really did in that year.
Well, maybe not quite. Gere is 58 today. He was 22 in 1971.
But that’s the first thing that strikes you about “The Hoax.”
Gere does a fine job in the part, but couldn’t they have found a younger actor to play questionable writer Clifford Irving?
The film is directed by Lasse Hallstrom, best known for “Mitt liv som hund” (”My Life as a Dog”), “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “The Cider House Rules.”
Irving was a slack writer who thought he had the perfect book. The people at Time-Life assured him he had a hit. He went out and bought his wife a new car.
Then the ax fell. He’s told a company bigwig didn’t like it. But if he had another book idea, the company would consider it.
It’s then that Irving hatched the idea of faking an authorized biography of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes.
Hughes, who made his money in aeronautics, had not been seen in years.
Marcia Gay Harden plays his beleagured wife, who has the talent of copying Hughes’ handwriting. She’s so good that when Clifford Irving presents his idea to his publishers, they take the hand-written note ‘authorizing’ the autobiography to have it analyzed. The experts come back and say its is genuine!
Alfred Molina, who started his career as a fatality in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” plays Irving’s friend, Dick Suskind. Suskind is brought kicking and screaming into the hoax.
He carries classified materials about Hughes out of a federal building in his pants, pulling it off even after being searched.
At one point, Irving and Suskind visit a former Hughes aide, who has written his own book about his former employer. The Irving character agrees to read the manuscript in the man’s living room while he is taking a swim. Instead, Suskind dashes to the local drug store to make copies.
Irving quickly tells the man the manuscript is no good and they run out with their copy.
A lot of the hoax is skin-of-the-teeth scenes like this where the pair dig up enough Hughes information to make their story sound plausible.
In one instance, Irving negotiates for a $1 million advance, having convinced the publisher he indeed speaks for Hughes. But then it hits him, how is he going to cash a check for $1 million under the name Howard Hughes?
The answer is yet another elaborate scheme, this one with his wife, who suspects rightly he is having an affair. She is sent to Switzerland to cash the check under “Helga R. Hughes.”
Irving is able to convince people he knows Hughes because after reading so much about Hughes, he starts recording Hughes-like statements, using the billionaire’s staccatto voice.
Gere does a nice job playing Irving, as does Molina as his friend. The storyline keeps twisting and turning, manipulating us with every curve.
One interesting aspect the movie points out deals with Richard Nixon. It was rumored Nixon, through his brother Donald, accepted bribes from Hughes in the 1950s. Nixon was so paranoied the Irving book was true, it lead to the break-in at the Democratic headquarters at Watergate.
The film has a banner ending, if only because it includes nearly the entire song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones. Yes, Irving’s world crashes around him.
It’s a fun film that will keep you thinking.
“Hoax” works on many levels.

THE HOAX
• Directred by Lasse Hallstrom
• Runtime 116 minutes
• Released by Miramax
• Rated R
• 3 1/2 stars
This appeared in WEEKENDER March 7, 2008